the blinding of the most evident truths,
the piling up of moral stench.
Hammadi, you saw only the outward signs, now
you know the meaning of the second secret
of the country of the dwarf-spirits, belonging to Kaydara.”
A great light streamed forth and Hammadi asked:
“Venerable master with prolonged days for the good
of those who lack knowledge and seek learning,
what is the meaning of the third symbol of the land of the dwarfs?”
The old beggar sneezed 124, searched in his rags
and said, “Terrestrial being 125, nocturnal being
whose shadow, marked out by the stars 126,
appears in a sky layered in three tiers 127;
its tail ends in a stinger gorged with poison,
ready to sting whatever rubs against it,
and from time to time, ready to kill!
Diurnally, the scorpion represents maternal sacrifice.
In order to be born, the embryo works at her belly,
devouring 128 it completely, and then seeing the day.
Its pinchers are offensive weapons
and its tail is a defense.
Nocturnally, the scorpion is the bellicose spirit,
nasty, irritable, and everywhere in ambush,
always ready to sting and, sometimes, to kill.
Hammadi, you saw only outward signs;
now you know the meaning of the third symbol
and the secret of the land of Kaydara
the distant, the nearby Kaidara.”
A great light shone, and Hammadi asked:
“What is the meaning, what is the secret
of the fourth symbol of the country of the dwarf-spirits?

Notes (Lilyan Kesteloot)
124. If someone sneezes while someone else is speaking, this is because “Geno says this is true.” If one sneezes out of any context, in a general silence, this is a sign of good luck; the sneezer is answered and then pays thanks saying, “Go to her whom I love and find ten kola nuts.”
125. The scorpion is not named since it is evil-willed. To name something is to unleash forces. One designates it by certain allusions; it is the same for the hyena which is also often known as “the weighed down one.”
126. The constellation of the scorpion well known to Fulbhe hunters and shepherds.
127. The head, the body, and the tail.
128. This legend says that the offspring of the scorpion kills its mother before being born. See above: “the conception is for me the sign of a certain demise.”